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Thirteen people will be tried for smuggling 280 kg of heroin in northern Vietnam between 2013 and 2014, the highest prosecution authority of Vietnam said on Friday.

The Supreme People's Procuracy said it has indicted Chu Van Vien, 33, and 12 other people on charges of operating a large ring that traded and trafficked drugs between Son La Province, which borders Laos, and Lang Son Province on the border with China.

The ring members, aged between 25 and 40, had trafficked 280 kg of heroin on 22 occasions between 2013 and December 2014, when they were arrested, earning more than VND10 billion (US$450,000), according to the indictment.

Vietnam has some of the world’s toughest drug laws. The production or sale of 100 grams of heroin or 300 grams of other illegal narcotics is punishable by death. Those convicted of possessing or smuggling more than 600 grams of heroin or more than 2.5 kilograms of methamphetamine also face the death penalty.